The present invention pertains to the field of electronic devices. More particularly, this invention relates to determining to what extent a returned electronic product has been operated.
When customers return products, it usually costs businesses money. The market for used products is often very limited. So, if a business has to sell a returned product as used, the business may be lucky to sell the product for a fraction of its original price. This is especially true for technology products like personal computers, audio/video equipment, networking hardware, and other electronic devices. Nonetheless, businesses often accept returned merchandise for various reasons, including things like promoting customer good will and complying with government regulations.
The costs associated with returned products can often be greatly reduced if the returned products can be legally re-sold as new. The incentive to re-sell products as new, however, may be outweighed by other factors. For instance, government entities may impose sanctions on businesses that sell used products as new. More importantly, being publicly accused of wrongly selling used products as new can significantly damage a business""s reputation. In which case, if it is not easy to tell whether or not a returned product has been used, businesses tend to err on the side of caution when it comes to re-selling returned products.
For instance, in the United States, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), if a product has been demonstrated to have been used by a customer for the product""s intended purpose, then the product is said to be used. In which case, products such as electronic devices are often treated as used as soon as the products have been removed from their packaging. That is, even though an electronic device may never have even been turned on, much less used for an intended purpose, the product is treated as used to ensure compliance with FTC regulations and to avoid the possibility of bad publicity. Unnecessarily treating these products as used undoubtedly costs businesses millions of dollars every year.